Bonita D.

Lovely venue, good food, but owed £200 two months later

May 2015

I have mixed feelings writing this review. Kensington Roof Gardens is a lovely venue and I had been to Babylon, the restaurant, a couple of times before, including our 8th year wedding anniversary. Which is why I chose it as the venue for one of my best friend's leaving party. I spoke to the event manager over the phone a few times, including when I gave him my card details and he deducted £200 as a deposit to secure the booking for the live music event, which included a "VIP" space, access to the club sections and came with a hefty minimum spend against which the deposit would be offset.. At no point did anyone I spoke to on the phone mention that all guests would require photo ID to access the venue. I have looked on the website and didn't find mention there either, and while it was emailed to me, it was at the bottom of a lengthy email which contained a lot of blah blah blah, so I didn't read it. (Who reads all the blah blah blah anyway?)
Of course a couple of the guests showed up without ID (on the night we were there, a problem being experienced by several other people in the queue). We then faced some tough choices - leave and hope to find another venue on a Saturday night in London, go ahead with the party minus a few of the guests who didn't have ID. Or, as we thought would be the only way to salvage the night - dine at Babylon (very expensive, and awkward as the guests had different budgets, which was why I arranged the more reasonable live music and barbecue option). Ironically, dining at the restaurant first requires no photo ID and gives access to all the club areas, for which apparently "due to their strict security measures" you absolutely need ID, apparently. (And the very rude bouncer and unhelpful bouncer of course had no sense of the irony.)
To add insult to injury, after we dined and asked for the bill, I discussed with the Babylon staff my expectation that the £200 would be taken off the bill (I was promised the refund at the door when we reached this compromise). The restaurant staff replied that as they run separate businesses with separate accounts, we would need to settle the restaurant bill and the £200 would be returned to my account the following week. Over two months later, I am still waiting …

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I have mixed feelings writing this review. Kensington Roof Gardens is a lovely venue and I had been to Babylon, the restaurant, a couple of times before, including our 8th year wedding anniversary. Wh ...